The Organised Housewife: Getting Back Control

Social Influencer, Author, Celebrity Ambassador, Winner 2019 Gold Coast Women of the Year People Choice Award & Finalist Gold Coast Women Entrepreneur Of The Year, Kat Springer, is one busy lady.

Busy, yes, but Kat wasn’t always as organised as she is today. She admits to having her fair share of struggles and meltdowns, as a wife and mother to three, and also that the chaos helped her to adapt routines to get the house under control.

Kat has been sharing her most successful tips and tricks to keeping an organised household on her blog since 2010. These days, theorganisedhousewife. com.au is a one stop shop to help you streamline the home

and all the jobs that come with it. There are plenty of meal planning ideas, recipes, craft ideas, DIY ant spray, reward charts and discount coupons to shop with. You can even find out how to make your own shoe deodorising spray and buy products to help make life easier in her store.

Wise Girls Money Magazine chatted to her about coping with overwhelm and cutting down the budget.

Kat, before you became The Organised Housewife, were you organised?

God no. I’m a very messy cook. I always have been and still am. I had a very disorganised home and was just trying to cope with juggling everything as a mum to twin babies.

Tell us a little about the place of overwhelm. What were the main issues?

16 years ago I was blessed with twins and later my third baby. My house was certainly getting the better of me! My clean washing was taking over my lounge room, the dishes just never seemed to disappear, and the rest of the house resembled a bomb site. The main issue was the dining table. It had become a dumping ground for everything. Keys, books, clothes... and the kitchen was out of control.

How did you get yourself out of that situation? Where did you begin?

I decided to take that control back. I created and trialled routines, rosters and charts, and sourced products that quickly became life-savers. Soon enough I had a system that was flawless! I came up with life hacks that saved not only my time but also my sanity. I got my life back.

So, for beginners who are in the thick of overwhelm. Where is a great place to start?

Start with that dumping ground. If you pile everything up somewhere in the house, it’s time to take a step back and look at it. Put up a key rack for keys, get a little table just for handbags, keys, coins etc. Clothes go straight onto the beds so they are ready to be put away at night. Make a place for everything you dump. Put them there as you go from now on. I even decorated the dinner table with a runner and vase so it was a deterrent to clutter.

Also, cleaning up after dinner, doing the dishes and going to

bed with a clean kitchen makes a huge difference. I let the dishes dry overnight and put them away in the mornings, but this routine is something I’m religious about. Everyone helps and it makes for a much easier morning when we wake up to a clean kitchen.

Break things down, keep it simple, and remember that huge tasks are just an accumulation of lots of tinier ones. That and meal planning – how did I ever survive before meal planning?!

What about the mother’s who are juggling work amidst it all? How can they avoid overwhelm and balance with family life?

Balance, truly finding my balance between being a mum working on her career in design and being a mum that prioritises her family too! I have gone from being busy for the sake of being busy to… it’s okay to switch off and enjoy this moment! I no longer feel guilty on a Saturday night leaving an email till Monday

What’s your best money saving tip?

I know what it’s like to feed a family of five and how costly it can be to feed a big and very hungry brood at home. I have 3 teenagers and a husband who are always looking for something to eat, which is why it’s essential that I not only have enough food in the house, but also stick to my weekly food budget.

Meal planning for the week and shopping for that plan saves so much money compared to walking around the grocery store to get inspired. We spend a lot more

doing that as well as ending up buying loads of things we don’t need or might waste. Before you make your meal plan, look through the catalogue and choose meals that use items on special. If sausages are cheap, plan a meal with them. If tuna is on sale, make something with that.

Secondly, online shopping is a godsend. Creating that list online against your meal plan means you only buy what you need and if you shop for the whole week, you won’t waste money popping in every couple of days to grab a couple of things and coming out with bags. Plus, who has time to do the whole shopping trip when you’re busy?

What are the golden nuggets of advice for our readers regarding sanity savers?

I love creating charts, checklists, planners and more, which all help me in different ways in the home from cleaning the house to reward charts for the kids and routine charts which help the kids with their morning tasks, but in turn helps me keep my sanity So I am not repeatedly yelling at them to brush their teeth! They can refer to the list of tasks in the morning and learn responsibility and they love it because it means no more yelling from me. My top 5 favourite printables that have helped keep my sanity over the years are:

Kids Routine Charts – stopped me yelling at my kids Cleaning Checklist – helps me to remember what to do Laundry Schedule – stops my dirty washing piling up Christmas Planner – to plan ahead and enjoy the holiday season Meal Planner – to help plan out a week of balanced meals

Get them HERE

Kat’s top TIP TO SURVIVING THE BABY STAGE

Organise everything! Even your dirty washing needs to be organised to help things flow.

One of the biggest struggles I had when my babies were little was keeping on top of the laundry, I always had piles of washing everywhere. I love to organise and my way to keep on top of Mt Washmore now is to organise the dirty laundry too!! There’s was no stopping me, I organised EVERYTHING.

theorganisedhousewife.com.au